This is what will be: The Boss, live in Cologne.

As many of you know, our longtime friend Kim Andersen – a Danish national and proud citizen of the universe who currently is a resident of Koln (Cologne), arguably Germany’s premier party town – surprised us with tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band last Thursday evening at the Koln Arena.

It was my first time ever at a Springsteen show, and having been breathlessly told by fans for many years how inspired the Boss’s concerts usually are, I can now nod sagely and echo the immortal words of the late Madeline Kahn in “Blazing Saddles” and say: Ohh! It's twoo! IT'S TWOO …

Springsteen’s new album "Magic" was well represented during the show, and the fact that the songs therein contain more than a few barbs in the general direction of the miserably failed Bush regime was raw meat for the locals in attendance. Note that the Hoosier author agrees with the Europeans and our own native of New Jersey when these lyrics are sung:

The earth it gave away
The sea rose towards the sun
I opened up my heart to you
It got all damaged and undone
My ship Liberty sailed away
On a bloody red horizon
The groundskeeper opened the gates
And let the wild dogs run

Here’s a review of the two and a half hour concert and the set list.

December 13 / Cologne, GER / Koln Arena

A smoking show, both literally and figuratively -- the Koln Arena must be one of the last such venues where lighting up is still permitted, and when the lights came up they revealed quite a cloud overhead. A surprisingly simlar set to the previous night, considering it's just a couple hours' drive. But the enthusiastic Cologne crowd, on their feet all night, set this one apart -- and who can complain about "Because the Night" two nights in a row? "The Promised Land" had that newly added "People Get Ready" gospel coda again, too. "Kitty's Back" was absolutely smoking, particularly Roy's solo -- a killer, jazzy improvisation, which Bruce echoed as he followed it with an extended solo of his own.

The end of "American Land" brought a patented James Brown routine, as Bruce fell over backward, "exhausted," still on the floor as the band went into a bonus "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." Nils and Steven helped him up to sing, and a special guest joined in, too. "Wolfgang, do you believe in Santa Claus?" Bruce cried to Wolfgang Niedecken -- like Joe Grushecky in Pittsburgh, you can pretty much bank on Niedecken joining in when Bruce comes to Deutschland. The German rocker didn't really seem to know the song, rarely stepping to the mic, but all eyes were on Bruce anyway, especially once he put that Santa hat on. How does he manage to make that thing look good? Tilting it at a rakish angle, twirling the pom-pom around like a helicopter... no one wears a Santa hat like Bruce. Hey, the guy's a professional.

Setlist:
Radio Nowhere
The Ties That Bind
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Because the Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The River
I'll Work for Your Love
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

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Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Kitty's Back
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
American Land
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town